LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With the holiday gift-giving season rapidly approaching, there is no better present then the timeless gift of music and Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) has something for everyone during this joyous time of the year. From Verve Records’ vast jazz catalog to The Who’s defining, break-though concept album Tommy, UMe provides the perfect soundtrack for your lasting holiday memories.
THE BAND: LIVE AT THE ACADEMY OF MUSIC 1971
Live At The Academy Of Music 1971 presents the best of the band’s four legendary year-end concerts, including the complete New Year’s Eve set – 4CD+DVD collection builds on the band’s ‘Rock Of Ages’ concert classic, unearthing much more from the acclaimed shows in new stereo and 5.1 surround mixes and also includes a deluxe, 48-page hardbound book with previously unseen photos, a reproduction of Rolling Stone’s original Rock Of Ages review by magazine co-founder Ralph J. Gleason, an essay by The Band’s Robbie Robertson, and appreciations of The Band and the set’s recordings by Mumford & Sons and Jim James of My Morning Jacket.
THE BEACH BOYS: MADE IN CALIFORNIA
The Beach Boys’ new career-spanning Made In California, caps the legendary band’s 50th Anniversary celebrations. Featuring more than seven and a half hours of music on six CDs, Made In California boasts more than 60 previously unreleased recordings. The deluxe set is presented in a high school annual-inspired hardbound book with personal recollections from the band’s members, replicated classic artwork and memorabilia, photos from the band’s archive, and handwritten yearbook-style inscriptions from Beach Boys Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks. The collection was recently praised by TIME Magazine as one of the “summer’s best archival releases.”
ERIC CLAPTON: GIVE ME STRENGTH: THE 1974/1975 RECORDINGS
The 5-CD/1-Blu-Ray™ disc box set Eric Clapton – Give Me Strength: The 1974/1975 Recordings is beautifully housed in a 60-page book and captures a full year’s worth of recordings, from April 1974 to June 1975. Featured are 88 remastered, remixed, rare unreleased and live recordings, including session outtakes, from his landmark studio albums 461 Ocean Boulevard and There's One In Every Crowd, and his legendary live album E.C. Was Here. Also included is a new 5.1 Surround Sound mix of 461 Ocean Boulevard and original quadrophonic mixes of two milestone releases. 461 Ocean Boulevard and There's One In Every Crowd. The original 3 albums will also be released separately as a 3-LP set.
John Mellencamp 1978 – 2012, is a uniquely comprehensive boxed set collection covering the legendary singer/songwriter’s principal studio albums. Released by Universal Music Enterprises on December 10, 2013, this collection consists of a total of 19 CDs originally released over a recording career that spans 35 years and, for the first time, combines in one package, albums Mellencamp recorded as John Cougar, John Cougar Mellencamp and John Mellencamp for Polygram, Universal, Sony and Concord-affiliated labels. The set contains a total of 223 tracks and includes such mythic album titles as American Fool, Lonesome Jubilee, Scarecrow, Cuttin’ Heads and the more recent Life, Death Love and Freedom and No Better Than This. Thirteen of the albums in the collection were RIAA®-certified as Gold, Platinum or Multiplatinum winners while ten of the albums achieved Top Ten status on Billboard’s Top 100 Album Chart. Of special note is the fact that the collection includes the long out-of-print original soundtrack album to Falling From Grace, the Mellencamp-directed film that was a collaboration with noted author Larry McMurtry. That disc includes tracks by Mellencamp, Dwight Yoakam, Nanci Griffith, Joe Ely, James McMurtry and John Prine.
NIRVANA: IN UTERO 20TH ANNIVERSARY
Universal Music Enterprises commemorates the 20th anniversary of the unwitting swansong of the single most influential artist of the 1990s with a multi-format release that spreads more than 70 remastered, remixed, rare, unreleased and live recordings over configurations ranging from a 3-CD/1-DVD Super Deluxe Edition to a standard digital/CD remaster of the original album. Material exclusive to the various versions of the In Utero 20th Anniversary reissue includes a veritable treasure trove of never-before-heard demos, B-sides and compilation tracks.
FRANK SINATRA: DUETS 20TH ANNIVERSARY
Frank Sinatra’s groundbreaking and highly successful album Duets was originally released in November 1993, bringing together an array of global superstars, including Charles Aznavour, Anita Baker, Tony Bennett, Bono, Natalie Cole, Gloria Estefan, Aretha Franklin, Kenny G, Julio Iglesias, Liza Minnelli, Carly Simon, Barbra Streisand, and Luther Vandross for an album of standards that included many songs instantly associated with the Chairman of the Board.
To commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the groundbreaking, multi-platinum selling album, Capitol/Universal Music will release Frank Sinatra: Sinatra Duets - Twentieth Anniversary, on November 18, 2013, bringing together the original Duets and the follow-up Duets II with special extras such as never-before- released recordings. Available in three editions: super deluxe box set, 2-cd deluxe edition, and best of duets single disc collection, the Chairman’s styling is perfect for every special occasion.
THE SMASHING PUMPKINS: THE AEROPLANE FLIES HIGH
The iconic alternative band releases four separate versions, all fully remastered, of their platinum-selling 1996 box set THE AEROPLANE FLIES HIGH: 6-CD +1 DVD; 5-LPs and Deluxe Digital and Standard Digital editions. These new limited edition box sets of THE AEROPLANE FLIES HIGH feature the original 33 track version—remastered by Bob Ludwig—and expanded to 104 tracks (90 audio and 14 audio-visual) encompassing unreleased demos, alternative versions and live recordings. In addition to expanded versions of Aeroplane’s original 5 discs, a 6th disc contains live recordings from the 1996 Mellon Collie tour, while the DVD content is taken from a July, 4 1997, performance in Belfort, France. Included is a 46-page book with liner notes, plus extensive track-by-track notes by The Smashing Pumpkins founder-singer-songwriter-guitarist Billy Corgan—for the original release’s 33 tracks.
TEARS FOR FEARS: THE HURTING (30TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION)
In March 1983, Tears For Fears released their influential synth-pop debut, The Hurting. The critical acclaim and commercial success that greeted the album was the culmination of 18 months of hard work. The original album, featuring “Change,” “Mad World” and “Memories Fade,” has been digitally remastered and expanded with live sessions, B-sides and remixes for new 3CD/DVD boxed set, 2CD and digital packages.
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND: WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT (45TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION)
The Velvet Underground’s White Light/White Heat is one of the most confrontational and inspirational second albums ever made by a rock band. Recorded in a matter of days at the end of the summer of 1967, a season in which everything seemed possible in rock and much of it happened at now-mythic speed, White Light/White Heat is an album that reeks of the gritty NY street life and could only have been made in New York, by one band. The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition, is a three-disc, 30-track set featuring both the original stereo and mono releases, completely remastered, with bonus tracks including alternate versions, unreleased outtakes, John Cale's last studio sessions with the band and the official release of their complete show at The Gymnasium in New York recorded on April 30, 1967 which includes 5 previously unreleased performances and culled from John Cale’s personal copy.
VARIOUS ARTISTS: THE COMPLETE MOTOWN SINGLES VOL. 12B: 1972
The Complete Motown Singles, an acclaimed, multi-disc series covering the company’s wide-ranging and massively successful output from 1959-1972, comes to its conclusion with the release of Volume 12B, a 5-disc set of the company’s output from the last half of 1972. This final volume is another stunning release, with 100 remastered tracks, several of them rare and unreleased, along with a 130-page booklet that tells the story of Motown finding a path from its original Hitsville headquarters in Detroit to the sun and surf of Los Angeles. The book also includes two essays - a nostalgic and emotional reminiscence by original Four Top Abdul "Duke" Fakir, and part two of the Detroit-to-L.A. overview by Susan Whitall, a longtime writer for The Detroit News. There are dozens of rare photos, and the detailed track-by-track annotations by Grammy®-nominated Bill Dahl and co-producers Keith Hughes and Harry Weinger.
The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 12B: 1972 includes such well-known hits from acts like the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson as well as rare tracks from Valerie Simpson, the MoWest label roster and the debut of Jermaine Jackson as a solo act.
VARIOUS ARTISTS: VERVE - THE SOUND OF AMERICA, THE SINGLES COLLECTION
Released on November 18, 2013, Verve – The Sound Of America – The Singles Collection is a 5-CD collection featuring 100 singles from the Verve catalog, over 20 of which have been out of print for years, all packaged in a stylish two-part, lift-off box with a 48-page booklet and extensive liner notes. Included are tracks from jazz legends such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Jimmy Smith, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Wes Montgomery, Count Basie, Coleman Hawkins and Astrud Gilberto.
THE WHO: TOMMY LIMITED EDITION SUPER DELUXE BOX SET and DELUXE EDITION
TOMMY, The Who’s defining, breakthrough concept album – a full-blown rock opera about a deaf, dumb and blind boy that launched the band to international superstardom – is to be released on November 12, 2013, as a two-disc Deluxe and a four-disc Super Deluxe edition, both featuring a 2013 remaster of the original album and a full, unreleased live bootleg of TOMMY. In addition, the Super Deluxe also includes 20 unreleased demos, a hi-fidelity 5.1 mix and a hardback, 80-page full color book.
